Some startling book statistics

I’ll just go ahead an assume all these numbers are true because they are on the internet…
Some startling book statistics: The following statistics about book publishing and reading were found on www.parapub.com, the Web site of self-publishing guru Dan Poynter. They’ll give you an idea of what you’re up against if you want to write books for a living.
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.

April 27, 2011 by Uncategorized 8

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8 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    April 27, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    Malarkey
    80 percent of families did not read a book last year? Malarkey, pure and simple. That does not ring true with any other stats I’ve ever seen on library use and reading.

    Considering that Jenkins Group appears to be a self-publishing firm, methinks I might smell an ulterior motive for their hidden agenda.

    That said, publishing is indeed tough, tough, tough. That much, I concur. Most writers (myself included), if they’re going to be realistic, realize that they’re not going to make a living off of writing novels. A few do, but most don’t.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    April 27, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    Copyright 2003?
    Did anyone notice when that “article” was written (well copyright dated)? Considering Erma Bombeck has been dead since 1996, you’d think that page and all the statistics would be suspect.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      April 28, 2011 at 1:57 pm

      dated yes
      If you go to the ParaPublishing site the 2003 article cites you will see that most of the statistics are even older than 2003. In fact the ParaPub list has not been updated since 2008. Come on librarians, evaluate the internet data. Where did it come from? Is the information dated? Some of the original sources are no longer there, so you cannot verify.

      Reply
  3. birdie says:
    April 27, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Interesting statistics
    I cannot vouch for the numbers, but having been involved in publishing for a number of years, I know both Dan Poynter and Jerry Jenkins (and Fern Reiss and John Kremer) well, and they would not intentionally falsify figures on the number of families that read. The self-publishing community is for the most part a stand-up group; everyone knows there are way too many books and not enough readers.

    I tend to believe there are a lot of non-readers out there. So many people have either stopped receiving newspapers or never subscribed; so many people don’t read for pleasure or think they don’t have a need to read for information. Just find that remote and start clicking!

    Reply
  4. Anonymous says:
    April 27, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Apologies
    I stepped over the line with that comment.

    And most of the stats I think are pretty conceivable. other than that one about 80% of families not reading a single book in a year.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says:
    April 27, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    The world is changing –
    E-publishing will (and no doubt has already had) an effect on these numbers. Print books, magazines and newspapers will all be affected, but it doesn’t mean the number of people reading is going down – in fact, it is probably going up. Not to mention that most websites require reading of one sort or another, so unless you only watch TV or listen to the radio, you are probably getting some reading in.

    Reply
  6. Anonymous says:
    April 27, 2011 at 9:34 pm

    This is interesting stuff but
    This is interesting stuff but what does it mean. I’m reminded of the statements by pundits in journalism that kids these days don’t read newspapers. But I read newspapers everyday. Online. Almost never in print. Are newspapers dying or are they thriving? Both.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says:
    April 28, 2011 at 1:51 pm

    Old data
    I am seeing the Parapublishing data popping up all over the place–gone viral almost. If you look at his page of statistics it says it has not been updated since 2008 and many of his original sources are much, much older than that some going back to the 1990s. Yet everyone everywhere is citing the statistics as if they were accurate portrayal of current trends.
    http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

    Reply

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